Water-Wise (Xeriscape)

As water bills skyrocket, as more gardeners move to semi-arid locations and drought becomes a persistent problem, growers of all sorts want to know: what’s the most efficient way to conserve precious water? Xeriscaping — “scape” comes from landscape and xeros, in Greek, means “dry” — is the practice of smart, sustainable water use. Ideas discussed here include waterwise gardening techniques, rain gathering, choosing condition-tolerant plants, soil improvement, mulching — anything that results in the effective use of a valuable resource.